2011 Honda Pilot rises above the crowd – 2

The five-door 2011 Honda Pilot has room for up to eight passengers and their luggage and is powered by a V-6 engine.

When it comes to creating the perfect family hauler, nobody does it better than Honda.

The company has two in its lineup that rank among the best: the Odyssey minivan and the Pilot, a large crossover that’s built on the same basic architecture as the Odyssey.

For moms who don’t want to be seen driving a minivan, and dads who wouldn’t dare be caught driving one, the Pilot is the perfect alternative.

Even with all the competition in the increasingly crowded crossover utility vehicle segment, the 2011 Pilot stands out as one of the best-designed family vehicles ever built — good for a long family road trip or the daily grind of hauling kids, dogs, groceries and the occasional do-it-yourself supplies.

The Pilot, which got a complete makeover just two years ago, returns for 2011 with a starting price of $28,045 (plus $780 freight). Prices range as high as $40,395 for the fully equipped Touring model with four-wheel drive, which is the one we tested for this report.

Now in its second generation, the Pilot is better than ever. And for a gadget freak like me, it’s configured perfectly, with lots of nooks and crannies in the cockpit to keep my (and my significant other’s) favorite mobile devices secure yet handy.

When it comes to cup holders and cubbyholes for keeping stuff organized, nobody gets it like Honda does. Besides two cup holders in the center console between the two front seats, for instance, there are trays in front and behind them, as well as three more trays on top of the glove box, to hold all of the gadgets that my wife and I both carry most of the time — including my Sprint EVO smart phone and iPod, and my wife’s Sprint phone and iPhone (one for actual telephone conversations, the other for all those apps).

There are places to plug them in, too — three 12-volt power outlets within reach of the driver and front passenger, along with a 110-volt outlet for a game console or for a wall charger for that camcorder, for example.

When the car is loaded up with passengers, everyone has at least one usable cup holder, and some have more than one. There are cubbies in the dash for more devices; and in the back, there are map pockets and door pockets and other places to stow stuff to keep it from flying all over the car when the brakes are applied or a sharp turn is made.

It’s nice not to have to use the cup holders for the mobile phones, which is what happens in most of the vehicles I drive. In the center console there also are USB and audio connections for iPods and other MP3 players, allowing them to be played through the in-dash audio system.

Our test vehicle came with the optional navigation system, which also is now available in the midlevel EX-L model. The system was offered only in the Touring model for 2010.

The Pilot is nearly as elegant and well-equipped as its Acura counterpart, the MDX, which is built on the same chassis.

There is seating for up to eight people, and the Pilot has the same quality and longevity consumers have come to expect from Honda vehicles. This is a roomy and comfortable vehicle, with nearly 153 cubic feet of passenger space and a cargo area that expands to 87 cubic feet with the middle and rear seats folded.

With all the seats in place, there is a 20.8 cubic-foot space behind the third row, which is larger than that found in most midsize SUVs with a third seat. It includes a hidden 2.8 cubic-foot storage well.

Each of the rear seats holds up to three people, but the third row is best left to children, as is the middle position in either row.

For 2011, there are four trim levels of the Pilot: LX, EX, EX-L and Touring, and four-wheel drive is optional on all four.

The base LX two-wheel drive is $28,045 (plus freight), and the four-wheel-drive LX lists for $29,645. The midlevel EX begins at $30,895 with front drive and $32,495 with all-wheel drive; with all-wheel drive and navigation, it’s $37,595.

Touring models are $38,795 with front drive, navigation and a rear entertainment system and $40,395 with all-wheel-drive, navigation and the entertainment system.

Under the hood of all Pilot models is a 3.5-liter V-6 engine, rated at 250 horsepower and 253 foot-pounds of torque, connected to a five-speed automatic transmission.

This is a smooth, powerful drivetrain that moves the vehicle effortlessly. While I didn’t test it on any steep mountain grades with a full load of people and cargo, we did have five on board, and typical uphill freeway ramps were no problem.

Inside, the Pilot is mostly quiet at highway speeds, although some wind noise does come through. It’s still easy to conduct a conversation at normal volume levels, though, even at 70 mph.

While the ride is soft and easy on the bones, the suspension is stiff enough to hold the vehicle steady on curves, and the steering is crisp and responsive. That’s one of the pluses of the crossover’s car chassis compared with the body-on-frame arrangement of the typical sport utility vehicle.

The engine comes with a fuel-saving feature called Variable Cylinder Management, which shuts off up to three of the cylinders during highway cruising. That helps give the Pilot its EPA highway rating of 23 mpg in the front-wheel-drive model and 22 with all-wheel drive. City ratings are 17 mpg for the front-drive model and 16 for all-wheel drive.

Our tester came with the full-time Variable Torque Management four-wheel drive system. It’s designed to improve traction mostly in rain or snow, but also gives the car some off-road capability.

There is no transfer case to provide low-range gearing for extreme trail driving, but there is a dash button that locks the system to provide maximum torque in first and second gears, up to 18 mph, to simulate low-range gearing, helping the vehicle extricate itself from mudholes or allowing it to negotiate steep inclines.

The Pilot’s ground clearance is just 8 inches, though, which precludes the kind of serious four-wheeling that some of the true sport utility vehicles are capable of.

With a total length less than 16 feet, the Pilot is easier to park than some of its eight-passenger competitors. Some are even as much as 2 feet longer. Honda says the vehicle is “garage friendly.”

The second and third rows have bench seats with a 60/40 split-folding feature. The second-row seat can be moved forward easily for access to the third row. Four child seat LATCH anchors are provided, three in the second row and one in the third row.

Pilot comes with Honda’s Advanced Compatibility Engineering body structure, designed to make the vehicle match the bumper heights of most other vehicles on the road.

Standard safety features include electronic stability control; three-row, side-curtain air bags with rollover sensors; driver and front-passenger seat-mounted side air bags; active front head restraints; and antilock brakes with electronic brake distribution and brake assist.

The Pilot has been designated a Top Safety Pick by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, and the vehicle received the best possible (five-star) ratings in front- and side-crash safety tests conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.